Boston Globe reporter recounts shooting at White House Correspondents' Dinner: "It was just chaos"

Video taken inside a Washington, D.C. ballroom shows secret service rushing in and climbing over chairs following gunshots outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night. Behind the camera is Boston Globe reporter Aidan Ryan.

"It was just chaos, we just really didn't know what was going on," he told WBZ. Ryan landed at Logan Airport in the middle of the night Sunday after a high stress weekend covering the event.

Ryan reports on media and news for the Globe and was in D.C. covering that beat. The annual dinner celebrates the First Amendment, and this year would be President Trump's first time attending – and giving a speech – as president. "I think the idea I had to go down there was to chronicle this potential clash between Trump and the press, and the dinner turned out to be something very different," Ryan said.

Early in the dinner, Ryan heard what he described as a loud noise. He didn't know it was gunshots, but he dropped to the ground when he saw others do the same. "My instinct was just to try to protect myself," he said. "I think the main emotion I had was just confusion. I didn't know what was happening."

Like any journalist, Ryan immediately started recording and covering what was an obvious, dangerous breaking news story. "I texted my parents to let them know that I was okay. I wasn't sure what they were seeing on TV and got to work," he said. 

There were more than 2,500 people in the room – most of them, journalists – so the alleged assassination attempt on President Trump was well documented. "Largely what we saw was reporters springing into action, which was very surreal," he described. "This is a moment that often journalists cover but aren't the subjects themselves, and here we were doing both."

Ryan says there was security, and that he had to show his paper invitation four times to get into the event, but he never had to show ID.

President Trump has said he wants the dinner rescheduled. If it is, Ryan isn't sure if he'll go. "I'll definitely consider it," he said, noting that his original intent for going is still relevant. Still, "it's hard to imagine a more memorable and chaotic and newsworthy experience than what we saw, so we'll see," he said.